In Umberto Eco's novel, Focault's Pendulum, the narrator makes the following comment about his dad:
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”
I believe that's true, but I don't think I really understood that statement until yesterday afternoon.
My dad had called me earlier in the day and I was unable to talk at the time, so I called him back a few hours later. When I called his cell phone I heard him open his phone, so I said, "Dad?" but received no response. A few more times, "Dad? Are you there? Dad?" Then I heard him talking, but he wasn't talking to me. He was talking to what sounded like an older man and woman, and I could hear everything they were saying.